Some estimates indicate there are approximately 40 million people who are blind and approximately 290 million people who are visually impaired worldwide. One of the challenges for blind and/or visually impaired users is navigating urban areas. Particularly difficult is navigating urban areas the blind and/or visually impaired person is unfamiliar with. It is noted, there are a number of difficult and potentially dangerous areas for a person to navigate, one of which is crossing a road.
Traditionally, blind and visually impaired users are assisted with crossing a road by audio guidance that is triggered by pressing a button. For example, at a crosswalk, a button may be present that allows a person to indicate an intent to cross the road (e.g., by pressing the button). Pressing the button may trigger an audible indication at a particular time to alert the person that the lights are such that crossing the street is appropriate at that time. However, some research suggests that only 16 percent of blind and visually impaired users are able to find the crosswalk button. Furthermore, when the button is found and pressed, 27 percent of the time, the blind and visually impaired persons is still in the crosswalk when the traffic lights change, due, for example, to the difficulty in finding the crosswalk area, the start of the audible signal, or the like.
This can present a major challenge for blind and/or visually impaired users, particularly in major metropolitan areas where there are hundreds of thousands of crosswalks and a person may navigate multiple crosswalks in a single trip through the urban area. The present disclosure is directed to the above.